Supremacia de Satanas

A split LP from Ecuadorian deathcore unit Nihil Domination and German black metal enthusiasts Goatblood, Supremacia de Satanas doesn't stray too far from the extreme black metal formula: atonal riffage, frantic snare, guttural vocals, lo-fi production with copious amounts of reverb, and lyrics so comically evil that Beelzebub himself would throw back his horns in merriment. Goatblood, who describe their sound, unsurprisingly, as "Ritual Occult Goat Metal," take the first possession, offering up a nine-track onslaught of depravity that clocks in at just under 15 minutes. Simultaneously frenzied and turgid, songs like "Cattle I Would Fuck," "Ramming a Smeared Horse-Pipe," and "Prolapsed Analdick" live up to the promise of their picturesque titles, and the midtempo "Holing Expired Virgins," which flirts with Earth A.D.-era Misfits punk metal, suggests a willingness to deviate a wee bit, at least cadence-wise, from the formula. Nihil Domination, on the other hand, give zero fu#ks in regards to stepping outside of their grease-painted discomfort zones, as the six cuts that occupy their end of the bargain may as well have come from one single track that was ruthlessly snipped into six viscera-covered bits. Dirtier, more fidelity-challenged, and ultimately more primal-sounding than that put forward by their German counterparts, standout (if only for their titles alone) tracks like "Ejaculator Goat Insulter," "Unholy Vulva Holocaust," and "Raped Jesus Christ" are as sonically derivative as they are over the top evil/infantile -- nuance has never had a seat at the extreme metal table, but at least the two bands provide a little contrast. Ultimately, Supremacia de Satanas feels like a bit of a dark lark. It does little to further the genre, but it also does nothing to damage it. ~ James Christopher Monger